4 minute read
Striking a balance
The impact of Covid-19 has had a silver lining for Joel Eddington, who is now happier with the shape of his plumbing company and the work-life balance it affords him.
AUTHOR: MATTHEW LOWE
The Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant loss of about one-third of their workload overnight forced Joel Eddington to downsize the Aucklandbased Your Local Plumber business he took charge of in 2015. Through the early years, Joel had increased the company’s number of vans on the road from seven to 13 but was forced to cut back to seven tradespeople once coronavirus struck.
The restructure also saw the company ditch its Onehunga site—only retaining a lock-up for some equipment—and shift to having staff working remotely across the city.
“Everyone goes from home to their jobs, which is achievable with so much being digital now,” says Joel. “We also found we did not need the huge premises we had in Onehunga and leaving there has reduced costs and kept the company alive.
Time to reconnect
“I’ve actually found the smaller company is much more to my liking. I did not like running such a big company where I felt disconnected from the staff and the jobs we were doing. Since downsizing, we have a more personal, family touch. While we’re not such a big company, we are a more smoothly run and profitable enterprise that can weather the strange environment we’re dealing with at the moment.”
Another benefit of the digital era has been the extra time Joel has with his family—wife Claire, who also works for the company, and two daughters Charlie, six, and Georgie, three. They have enjoyed making the most of a lockdown-free summer exploring the North Island. “I enjoy the ability to work remotely and have worked out of a tent on numerous occasions when we’ve been away,” he says with a laugh.
“The digital era is great for that. It’s made family life brilliant and given me the flexibility to help out with the kids and do school pick-ups, which has created a great work-life balance. I’m still putting in 50hour weeks, with work into the evening
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Joel Eddington says he has struck a great work-life balance with Your Local Plumber.
Joel with his wife Claire, who also works for the business, and their daughters Georgie and Charlie.
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or first thing as necessary, but it’s around the rest of the family. That’s probably the best benefit of the downsizing of the company and I see the girls’ milestones more than I would have otherwise.”
Buying the business
Joel started out in plumbing as an apprentice with JC McCall in Auckland but was made redundant during the global financial crisis and from there joined Dan Pollard at Mt Albert Plumbing. Dan renamed the business Your Local Plumber before deciding to sell it to concentrate on Fergus Software, which specialises in job management programmes for tradies.
As a result, Joel, who has a bachelor of business degree from AUT and had risen to the role of operations manager, says he “donned a suit, wrote a business plan, went to the bank and got a sales and purchase agreement, and slapped it on Dan’s desk”.
He notes it’s been a whirlwind since September 2015 when he bought the company, which focuses on renovations,
A keen fisherman, Joel enjoys some time on the water with Georgie.
repairs, maintenance and gas installations. It has also introduced a drainage side, as well as specialising in leak detection and water main repairs.
Other major changes since Joel took charge have been the creation of a new website a couple of years ago, which he says has been revolutionary for the business, and expanding its digital presence.
“We built a larger, more direct website that’s also got good mobile connectivity and layouts,” he explains. “We have made it easy to find all the action buttons, like call now or book now, on our mobile site.
“Plumbing is very reactive. If someone’s looking for a local repair online and can’t get through to you almost straight away, they quickly move on to another business.”
On the Auckland executive
Besides being in charge of Your Local Plumber, Joel is keen to have greater involvement with Master Plumbers and recently became part of the executive team for the Auckland region.
“I find running a plumbing company can be quite a lonely job and, while you have your staff, you’re still left making a lot of decisions on your own,” he says.
“Being part of Master Plumbers, you get to associate with a lot of people in similar situations and there’s a wealth of knowledge and experience you can tap into.
“I love being able to get into a room and surround myself with people on a similar level and with similar levels of drive, which Master Plumbers allows you to do.
“I can see me being involved in the industry right up to retirement and I am keen to give back more—hence my involvement with Master Plumbers and bringing on new apprentices.”
